Today is a wonderful day!
Outside the window, snowflakes are fluttering down and the north wind is howling. As I sat alone at home, I opened my door to a wave of warmth—the leadership team of the Aurora Chinese Arts Association visited my humble home to express their sympathy and care for an 83-year-old senior like me! Instantly, the gloom built up in my heart over the long North American winter was swept clean away!
What a tremendous honor this is!
Consider this: since ancient times, it was said that “reaching seventy is rare.” An octogenarian, walking precariously on life’s return journey, is now gracefully referred to as being in their “golden/happy years” (Le Ling)! What a grand comfort this brings to us elderly! So, pay no mind to those spine-chilling, alarmist claims that “everyone’s old age is a tragic struggle.” Cherish this period of life dearly: keep a healthy mindset, live wellness-filled and happy lives! Accept gains serenely, view losses with calm, and let nature take its course!
I feel incredibly fortunate!
I am fortunate because I am a member of the Aurora Chinese Arts Association, blessed to have found a cozy, big family in a foreign land. It is no exaggeration to say that a family like this is unprecedented! Its members hail from all corners of our homeland. We crossed mountains and traversed oceans, traveling tens of thousands of miles in search of a path, only to be brought together by fate. How truly remarkable! Moreover, this community is brimming with talent! Our leadership team and volunteers possess such incredible capability that they helped our association stand out and shine brilliantly in just two or three short years! How could one not feel immensely proud?
Thinking back to when we first left our homeland and loved ones for this unfamiliar country, didn’t we all feel a tinge of loss? Now, with such a warm, supportive family providing a platform to display our talents, doesn’t it evoke that feeling of “losing at sunrise, but gaining at sunset”?
“Though the setting sun is infinitely grand, its glowing clouds still paint the entire sky!” We once possessed the brilliance of summer flowers, and today we hold the tranquil beauty of autumn leaves, together painting a wonderful life! As the fitting English saying goes:
May there be enough clouds in your life to make a beautiful sunset.